Garment-fastener.



JULIUSJ. BRELL, 015 NEW YfiRK, N. Y.

GARMENT-FASTENER.

asses.

specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Qct, i5, lfilfi.

Application filed December as, isle. Serial No. isaaec;

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that E, Jones J. Baum, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at New York city, New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Garment-Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates more particularly to that type of garment fasteners known as snap fasteners. lit has for its object the improvement of structures of this type with respect to the particulars hereinafter more fully referred to.

Sugh snap fasteners, the use of which is very extensive, although generally sufiiciently rigid to withstand the strains of their use, are nevertheless occasionally bent or crushed. This is due, especially when dealing with the smaller types of fasteners,some of them are less than an eighth of an inch in width-to the manner in which the structures are handled. For example, when they are assed through the wringer of a laundry t ey frequently do not pass through in an altogether flat condition, with the result that the structure is likely to become bent or distorted. The nature of the structure, however, and the small quantity of metal of which these fasteners are composed, seemed to make it impossible to provide any means for'strengthening or rendering more rigid those parts of the fastener which are most likely to be bent out of shape. It is one of the objects of this invention to provide means for-strengthening such fasteners. In accomplishing this result, I

depart from the usual practice of forming the eyelet holes by means or" a punch, and

employ, as part-of the finished structure and for the purpose of strengthening the same, the metal which in the initial blank constitutes that part oi the structure Which is later represented by the eyelet apertures. instead of punching out these eyelet apertures and. throwing away the metal thus punched out, the eyelet apertures, according to my invention, are preferably drawn up in a manner similar to that used in the formation of the central stud. These drawn up portions are then pierced and bent over :gainst the metal blank whereby the surface f the blank is provided with a series of strengthening ribs or ridges adjacent to the edges of the eyelets. These ridges may be formed in a number of difierent ways and the manner of forming them, above described, is illustrative merely of a preferred manner of roceeding.

These ri ges have the additional advantage of presenting a smooth surface so that the thread which is used to sew the fastener to the garment is not cut as it now frequently is by the edges of the eyelet openings as formed by the usual punching operation. In some uses of the invention the ridges are used as a means to provide a lateral stop for the spring near the points where the free end of said springs rejects from beneath the outer rim toward the socket stud. In this phase of the' invention, and particularly when dealing with fasteners adapted to be stitched to garments by machinery, I have found that there is a material advantage in employing a spring of a special type such as is illustrated in the drawings. If a spring of the best known type is used it is found that such a spring, consisting as it does of a generally S-shapcd terminal at each side of the socket stud, is likely to have some part thereof projecting in the path of one of the eyelet apertures. If, on the other hand, a spring having a single terminal loop instead of the S-shape is employed, the wire does not seem to supply the requisite amount of spring action. I have, therefore, provided an additional coil in the wire which produces a very strong spring action and which tends to insure the ermanenc' of spring activity in the ternnnal stretc of wire at the sides of the socket stud. This wire coil, when used in connection with the edged eyelet apertures, naturally assumes a position in which no part of it is likely to overlap any of the eyelet apertures; the ridged edges of such apertures form a natural stop and prevent the Wire coil from riding over them.

The invention is illustrated in the accom- I the eyelets.

In these drawings referrmg first to the socket member of the button fastener, the

socket is indicated as 1; the stud which engages said socket is designated as 2; the eyelet apertures are marked 3; the ridges around said eyelet apertures, and which as shown consist of material integral with the base of the fastener elements, are designated as '4. These ridges 4 form a continuous and smooth, raised edge which encircles the apertures or eyelets 3. The entire edge presented by the ridges 4 is smoothfand the metal of which the edge is made is bent back upon itself in some appropriate manner as, for example, in the way shown in Figs. 2 or 5, so as to be turned toward the metal which constitutes the base of the fastener element. In the socket member it is preferred that the ridges shall be located on the same side of the fastener element upon which the socket stud 1 projects while on the stud member, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the ridges 4 are preferably located on that side of the fastener element which is opposite to the side from which the stud projects. As shown in Fig. 5, it is in some cases preferable to provide something in the nature of a countersunk portion in the metal constituting the surface of the fastener element for the purpose of enabling the recess thus formed to contain the bent-back portion of the ridges which edge the eyelet openings.

The spring 5 is incorporated in the structure in such a way that neither the coil 6 nor'any other part of the spring overlaps the eyelet apertures 3. The spring 5 is preferably made of a single piece of wire having a curved or bent portion 5 which,

as shown, lies outside of the outer portions of a'plurality of the ridged eyelets. This part 5 of the spring'is overlapped by the outer terminal portions of the metal which constitutes the fastener element, whereby the outer edges of each fastener element are rounded, as shown at 9. The spring 5 is thus, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5, confined between the circumferential flange of the fastener element and the ridges which edge the eyelets. The free ends of the springs project toward the center of the structure and, after leaving the overlapping portion 9 of the fastener element, are spirally bent upon themselves, as shown at 6, to form a loop, and upon completion of the loop, a finger 7 which is adapted to enter into the apertures 8 formed in the socket member of the fastener and there to engage the stud of the stud member. These fingers 7 may be either straight or curved, but they are preferably curved. The overlapping edges 9 of the fastener element may be relied upon by reason of their own pressure and friction to maintain a definite position of the loop 6 in relation to the eyelet openings and the other parts of the fastener elements; although, as particularly shown in Fig. 3, tlns function may be aided or be exercised by the ridges 4 supplying a stop to check movementpf the spring 5, 6, 7 in any direction in WhlCh there might be danger of said loop or a part of said wire overlapping one of the eyelet apertures.

What I claim is:

1. In a garment fastener comprising eyelets for the passage therethrough of a needle and thread, that improvement which consists in a continuous smooth raised edge encircling said apertures to form a ridge, said ridge being integral with the fastener element and having atleast a portion countersunk with respect to adjacent portions of said fastener element, the terminal portions of the metal constituting said ridges being bent back upon itself and toward the metal element, the terminal portions of themetal constituting said ridges being bent back upon itself and toward the metal constituting the fastener element, a wire spring having a curved or bent portion lying outside of the outer portions of a plurality of said ridged eyelets and a flange on the outer edges of the fastener element bent over said portion of the wire and confining it between the flange thus formed and the ridged edges of the eyelets.

3. In a garment fastener comprising eyelets for the passage therethrough of a needle and thread, a continuous smooth raised edge encircling said apertures to form a ridge, said ridge being integral with the fastener element, the terminal portions ofthe metal constituting said ridges being bent back' upon itself and toward the metal constituting the fastener element, a wire spring having a curved or bent portion lying outside of the outer portions of a plurality of said ridged eyelets and a flange on the outer edges of the fastener element bent over said portion of the wire and confining it between the flange thus formed and the ridged edges of the eyelets, said wire at its free or terminal end being looped upon itself to form a splral terminating in a finger which is adapted to enter into an aperture formed in the socket member of the fastener.

4. In a socket memberof devices of the class described having eyelets a wire member formed into a spring by being bent near its central portion and confined within a cir-' foifmed'into'aooil and a continuing finger, lets. v

said finger being adapted to enter appro- .In testimony whereof I have hereunto set pr'iateapertures in the socket member, the my hand. i coils 1y g upon an imferfoi ate part of the metal constituting sai socket member and. JULIUS J. .BRELL.

eu znierential'flenge of the fast ene'r5 the free means constituting art of the fa stenelj eleends of.'said w1re projecting inwardly and ment' to' maintain t e 0011 m said position 10 after' emerging from said flange being .against movementainto the path of the eye- Gopie; of this'patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner ,0! l'at'ents, Washington, 0. 

